But not Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart” or “The Fall of the House of Usher.”

The list also has thoughtful choices such as "The Joy of Cooking" and "Our Bodies, Ourselves." There are works from Dr. Seuss and Dale Carnegie and three (three!) by Ben Franklin. And poetry from Robert Frost.

“This list is a starting point,” Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said in a statement accompanying the release of the list. “It is not a register of the ‘best’ American books – although many of them fit that description. Rather, the list is intended to spark a national conversation on books written by Americans that have influenced our lives, whether they appear on this initial list or not.”

C'mon Jimbo. That's a bit like saying the Baltimore Orioles' starting lineup is the "starting point" in a game. Sure, a few pinch hitters and relief pitchers can get into the game, but such platitudes don't make the guys on the bench feel better. And no matter what the Library of Congress says, Edgar Allen Poe is no bench-warmer.

Is one of Baltimore's quirkiest traditions -- the Poe toaster -- dead? In the dark of night, on Jan. 19, the author's birthday, a mysterious, anonymous toaster had for years left cognac and roses at his grave outside Westminster Hall. Now that the stranger has failed to show up -- for the third...

"I might refer at once, if necessary, to a hundred well authenticated instances. One of very remarkable character, and of which the circumstances may be fresh in the memory of some of my readers, occurred, not very long ago, in the neighboring city of Baltimore, where it occasioned a painful, intense,...